Shanghai's skyline is not beautiful or iconic. It's more a scifi fantasy with components of awkward weirdness surrounded by a bleak, dystopian sea of cement high-rises.

Shanghai is a lot of things, but dystopian isn't one of them. Maybe in 50 years after this China miracle comes crashing to the ground, and the streets become no-go zones, and buildings become burnt-out carcasses with shanty towns surrounding their base, but until then, dystopian and Shanghai in the same sentence doesn't even compute. Would you consider Hong Kong dystopian? New York?

Even after 10 years, I'm constantly mesmerized by the skyline. It's got a lot going for it (except pre-war skyscrapers which turn some people off).

Shanghai's skyline is not beautiful or iconic. It's more a scifi fantasy with components of awkward weirdness surrounded by a bleak, dystopian sea of cement high-rises.

In terms of built environment (i.e. forget about the natural surroundings), how exactly is Hong Kong any different from this? I was just in Hong Kong for the first time last week and upon looking at the Hong Kong skyline from the Kowloon waterfront, all I could think was that, excluding the mountains behind the skyline, the Hong Kong skyline is EXTREMELY similar to the Lujiazui skyline as seen from the Puxi side of the river in Shanghai. Both Shanghai and Hong Kong have beautiful buildings, sci-fi buildings, awkwardly weird buildings, and there's no argument that Hong Kong has a HUGE number of cement high rises as well, and taller and more close together than they are in Hong Kong.

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In terms of built environment (i.e. forget about the natural surroundings), how exactly is Hong Kong any different from this? I was just in Hong Kong for the first time last week and upon looking at the Hong Kong skyline from the Kowloon waterfront, all I could think was that, excluding the mountains behind the skyline, the Hong Kong skyline is EXTREMELY similar to the Lujiazui skyline as seen from the Puxi side of the river in Shanghai. Both Shanghai and Hong Kong have beautiful buildings, sci-fi buildings, awkwardly weird buildings, and there's no argument that Hong Kong has a HUGE number of cement high rises as well, and taller and more close together than they are in Hong Kong.

Hong Kong's skyline along the shorelines looks prettier and has better buildings. But yeah, I agree that much of the residential in Hong Kong is pretty depressing, too.

The best angle of the skyline of Hong Kong is a hundred times nicer than the best angle of the skyline of Shanghai. Though I admit that the curvy shorelines of Hong Kong are part of the reason for the aesthetics.

That just looks like Asian high-rise sprawl to me. No different than what you see in cities like Taipei, Seoul, Bangkok etc. I wouldn't think those cities look dystopian either.

I'm not trying to be combative or condescending, but if you think that then you've definitely been in Asian too long. There's a very good reason that the look of Blade Runner was modelled after Asian cities!

By that same regard, we should be using the commie blocks of Scarborough and Don Mills as well as the recent condos along Humber Bay as judgement for Toronto's skyline, despite it not really being the 'core' skyline. Or (and this is pure hyperbole) the Laval clock tower should be used as detraction from Montreal's skyline for its absurdity.

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Originally Posted by rousseau

I'm not trying to be combative or condescending, but if you think that then you've definitely been in Asian too long. There's a very good reason that the look of Blade Runner was modelled after Asian cities!

And I think you have heavy biases towards urban styles that are heavily skewed in favour of Eastern North American and European styles. But in terms of skylines, your bias seems more specifically Americanized. Asian cities have a very different style to them, but I for one am happy for it; it'd be kinda boring if we all followed through with the American style of things.

To be fair, I think there are plenty of big Asian cities with mediocre skylines (Osaka, Taipei, Beijing, even Tokyo for its size and stature), but Shanghai is definitely not a city with a mediocre skyline.

I'm not trying to be combative or condescending, but if you think that then you've definitely been in Asian too long. There's a very good reason that the look of Blade Runner was modelled after Asian cities!

That could very well be. I'm just trying to offer a different perspective.

I've said it before and I'll said it again. This is the best view angle of the skyline. All the buildings are visible, so is the mountain and the river. Old montreal, the port of montreal, the Molson brewery, everything. All the elements that make Montreal what, it is are there.

I'm not trying to be combative or condescending, but if you think that then you've definitely been in Asian too long. There's a very good reason that the look of Blade Runner was modelled after Asian cities!

It's more cyberpunk than dystopian. Although those genres definitely do have some overlapping themes.

I'm not trying to be combative or condescending, but if you think that then you've definitely been in Asian too long. There's a very good reason that the look of Blade Runner was modelled after Asian cities!

Blade Runner? You mean the 30+ year old movie from 100,000 high rises ago?

It's more cyberpunk than dystopian. Although those genres definitely do have some overlapping themes.

This. It has everything in too much. Just sensory overload for me. And yes, I totally think Bladerunner (movie, not the book it was based on so much) and books like Snow Crash (cyberpunk) and The Windup Girl (dystopian.)

For me, the big cities in Eastern and South-Eastern Asia end up looking like something a half century from now. Somehow they have this built up layered history with ultra-modern bling which seems half a century away here.

Dystopian does not have to mean decay, it means dehumanizing which can be social or environment. Its when things go wrong within society and society collapses. Shanghai is an amazing backdrop for that because you can imagine almost anything happening there given that layered craziness.

Shanghai is a gigantic city (2010 metro population: 34 million) that was growing by upwards of a million new people every year in a country with a swiftly expanding GDP per capita--but one that is still only just above $13,000 (US, adjusted for PPP). Quite frankly, under the circumstances, I am amazed that the city looks so good...compared to say, Delhi?

I am looking forward to seeing the changes since I visited last in 2012. I am back in June this year.

__________________The modern conservative is engaged in one of man's oldest exercises in moral philosophy; that is, the search for a superior moral justification for selfishness. John Kenneth GalbraithWe must always take sides. Neutrality helps the oppressor, never the victim. Silence encourages the tormentor, never the tormented. Sometimes we must interfere.Elie Wiesel